February 20, 2021
Good Morning, God and All…
It was only a month ago that the 46th POTUS was inaugurated. It’s been just eighteen days since America’s penultimate rodent after Mickey Mouse, Punxutawney Phil, allegedly saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. He had to have seen a shadow from artificial lighting, because it was snowing in northwest Pennsylvania that morning…and it doesn’t seem to have stopped since. Nearly everywhere in the USA, and all the way through Texas and into Mexico, it’s been cold and icy and snowy.
As for other news, former President Donald Trump was acquitted of the impeachment charge of inciting the insurrection of January 6 at the Capitol building that cost five people their lives and scores of injuries to others. The Senate failed to muster the two-thirds majority vote as 43 Republicans voted “not guilty” on the premise that, since Trump was no longer in office, the impeachment trial was unconstitutional. Rush Limbaugh, a long-time and legendary spokesman for conservative ideology, died three days ago after a long battle with cancer. I’m no doctor, but I wonder if his declining health took a sharp turn for the worse as Trump kept pounding his bully pulpit, claiming the 2020 election had been stolen from him, and took an even greater turn after January 6. There were more than a few among the left who could not resist turning to social media with glee when Rush’s passing was announced. Most of the rest of us, hopefully, found a moment to silently pray that the Lord of judgement received his soul with mercy.
It seems important to me to mention that Rush Limbaugh’s death happened on Ash Wednesday. Because it’s tied to Easter and how the date of Resurrection Sunday is determined, what were the odds? What more of a stark reminder, amplified by the words repeated around the world that day, Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return!
If we thought 2020 was a year like none other in recent history, 2021 seems to be continuing in a less than desirable direction. A nation more divided than ever. A world suffering the terrible effects of said division, in America and elsewhere; and a pandemic that defies containment. While secularism can explain, if not rationalize, all that’s going on, I still can’t help thinking that maybe it is the wrath of God that has brought all this upon us. It makes sense. Science agrees that our culture’s carbon and philosophical footprints have led us down this path, and the terrible things we are enduring and suffering are the results of our labors or lack thereof.
Life as we knew it changed once we got into last year’s Lenten season. The realist in me does not see an end to face covering or most of the social restrictions imposed on us before Lent next year, even as vaccines have been developed. Even as President Biden asks for unity, the politics of our present circumstances thrive on division, drawing us away from prayer and discernment on just where our true allegiances belong.
I have gone so far over the course of my life as to immerse my surroundings with those who are like-minded in Christ. I am still a sinner, of that there is no doubt; but how much worse the state of my soul would be without them. We may not agree on everything, but we help keep each other from straying far from the path on which Our Lord travels. That’s especially important right now. In the midst of all our worldly troubles - and there are many - to understand the blessings Lent offers (again, there are many) we should focus on those people and things that keep us close to God.
And so it is with a heart longing and a hunger and thirst to better understand and proclaim that God loves us and longs for us even more than we do for God, I pray that this might be our ‘best Lent ever.’ Indeed, it’s already better than the last one.
Until we meet again, may God be with you - and may God have mercy on us all…
+the Phoenix
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